It's a cool marketing concept... when an OS gets tired, just take half the features out and re-release it. Then, in the quarters to follow, you can just re-enable them one by one, and everyone will be excited over the "new" features.

It's a cool marketing concept... when an OS gets tired, just take half the features out and re-release it, **adding a totally new UI and giving support for cool but quite useless new technologies**. Then, in the quarters to follow, you can just re-enable them one by one, and everyone will be excited over the "new" features.
-E

I'll be honest, there is not much different for day to day use. For example, using a tile to access facebook, email, twitter (with apps) all work the same(some little changes in email but, not much for every day use). Now you get the nice look and cusomization of having the 3 tile sizes, that was the biggest change.

if you have a device running 7.8 there is no major reason to upgrade to WP8 right now. Why ?

1. Zune sync is WAY better than the so called WIndows Phone app (it's a POS app right now)
2. FM radio support, Hardware is there on WP8 but, no software to use it
3. Day to day use is the same with 7.8 and 8 (live tiles)
4. besides nicer display, there are no games that really need a dual core CPU if any apps right now.

If you use your phone for email, facebook, twitter and phone calls, I dont see any MAJOR upgrade YET to going to a WP8 device over a 7.8 device. The 7.8 upgrade is nice, new tiles, Bing for wall paper plus a few other minor things.

Also (if you have the right phone) Wp 7.5/7.8 devices are hacked fully, so you can get access to a ton of cool apps that a factory phone wont have or even the apps appear in the marketplace. There are no unlocks besides Dev available for Windows Phone 8 yet (I really enjoyed this aspect of WP7).

I used the 7.8 update for at least 2 months(beta version then final)on my HTC Trophy before going to a HTC 8x Windows Phone 8 device and I honestly dont notice much in day to day use....

I'll be honest, there is not much different for day to day use. For example, using a tile to access facebook, email, twitter (with apps) all work the same(some little changes in email but, not much for every day use). Now you get the nice look and cusomization of having the 3 tile sizes, that was the biggest change.

if you have a device running 7.8 there is no major reason to upgrade to WP8 right now. Why ?

1. Zune sync is WAY better than the so called WIndows Phone app (it's a POS app right now)
2. FM radio support, Hardware is there on WP8 but, no software to use it
3. Day to day use is the same with 7.8 and 8 (live tiles)
4. besides nicer display, there are no games that really need a dual core CPU if any apps right now.

If you use your phone for email, facebook, twitter and phone calls, I dont see any MAJOR upgrade YET to going to a WP8 device over a 7.8 device. The 7.8 upgrade is nice, new tiles, Bing for wall paper plus a few other minor things.

Also (if you have the right phone) Wp 7.5/7.8 devices are hacked fully, so you can get access to a ton of cool apps that a factory phone wont have or even the apps appear in the marketplace. There are no unlocks besides Dev available for Windows Phone 8 yet (I really enjoyed this aspect of WP7).

I used the 7.8 update for at least 2 months(beta version then final)on my HTC Trophy before going to a HTC 8x Windows Phone 8 device and I honestly dont notice much in day to day use....

And what of those is something that couldn't have been added to WP7 if they had developed it further instead of doing all over again? Also I can't see a killer feature there, that helps me right now.

Many of these features are minor, for example "Keep WiFi alive", "Screenshot" etc. Others are just buzz words, "Camera Lenses". Also "Fast app resume" was already in Windows Phone 7.5.

This is a personal opinion of course. But I still think it's not enough to say Windows Phone 8 is much greater than Windows Phone 7. It's just a copy with some minor features added, and also features lost.

As I said, personal taste. I have never used FM radio, but also the only app I know using VoIP is Skype. An app people hoped would be integrated and offer more functions. I don't even dare using it as long as it is in beta, because the first version practically destroyed my phone when it was installed. Background GPS is nothing I use, but it's good to have for sure, I just don't see why this needed an NT kernel.

Now, native code is great, but the app quality honestly didn't improve that much yet.

Seven tasks switcher? It shows everything in there, except usually the app you used 5 minutes ago. There are what, 2 more in this list? Killer, that was the most important feature needed ;-) ...but they couldn't even give people the 'X'.

How are you still missing the point? None of this needs an NT kernel, but keeping Windows Phone on the CE kernel for the sake of a few million users wouldn't be a positive. Now Microsoft has its mobile, tablet and desktop operating system on the same kernel, with many shared APIs. It's probably easier for them to move the platform forwards now, and porting between the WP8 and W8 is easier now. It's conceivable that it will require no effort in the future.

Originally Posted by Chregu

Now, native code is great, but the app quality honestly didn't improve that much yet.

Native code brings performance increases, it doesn't magically breed quality. Also, few apps have taken advantage of it. Just take a look at how Facebook has drastically improved on other platforms when it finally decided to go native. The 3D games we have look pretty trashy. You'll see the difference when Unity-powered games are launched.

Originally Posted by Chregu

ISeven tasks switcher? It shows everything in there, except usually the app you used 5 minutes ago.

What you're saying here makes little sense. Anyhow, increasing the limit was in fact highly requested. This stuff isn't as "subjective" as you make it out to be, just because you hold an atypical opinion does not mean that Microsoft is making the wrong moves. The X serves no purpose but to clear out that task switcher. Adding more tasks to it partially addresses that issue and allows for better multitasking.

AngryNil, you just give me the feeling, you're talking about the future, when this thread is about the situation right now.

Don't get me wrong, I don't disagree that Microsoft made some very good decisions that were necessary for the future, but we just don't feel them yet. I think this is the case mostly because third party developers are not very interested in the platform. Most of the features added concern things that have to be implemented externally, and nobody cares to do so. Not even Microsoft, how long did it take them to add the most basic features - like deleting files - to their PDF app? How long did it take them to update the Skype app, an update that basically removed the part that was causing problems without really adding something new?

If we ever get apps that use native code to a extend we dream of now, that implement VoIP functions, then we can make a new thread with the title: "Why WP8 has become much better than WP7.8", but we are just not there yet.

Originally Posted by AngryNil

What you're saying here makes little sense.

It makes sense to me, as WP8 puts even menus and basic apps - that offer no function if I go to them over 'app switching' like Messaging - in there. I only have to read a short message, sync my mails, take a call, look something up in the settings, and all apps that were open are gone. Again, personal taste, but I'd like to have some intelligent hierarchy in there.

The more we vote on uservoice.com, the less chance we have that a feature will be added in future upgrade :)
Take a look over separate ringtone/media volume or custom notifications sounds.. ten of thousand votes over the years and in Portico we got text replies to call. ROTFL

Thanks for the clarification Chregu. While I still believe WP8 has feature-for-feature superiority over WP7.8, you are right in saying the core advantages I see will not be surfaced until the future. They are seeping out there - we now have decent Skype and decent navigation. But I think we are going to look back in a year and wonder how anyone used WP7.x. After all, it's happened before. WP7.0 had no task switcher and no instant resume. I waited until I could flash the Mango beta before I bought my Omnia 7, and promptly did so on the same day I opened it.